Podcasts about virtuous life

Redefine the Modern Man => https://refinedintegrity.com/ Get Your Freedom Tickets => https://events.3twarrioracademy.com/fc25 Live Workshop => https://3twarrior.com/wa Redefining the Modern Man => https://www.youtube.com/@RefinedIntegrity E1928 | Wisdom, Courage, Justice, Temperance! What I saw in myself was that I was living a life seeking fulfillment outside of myself. Full path to happiness is a life of fulfillment. A Virtuous Life is Wisdom, Courage, Justice, and Temperance! Listen Now! Set Up Consultation with our Indexed Universal Life Insurance Team = > https://3twarrioracademy.typeform.com/to/Gb8tpIVy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The intensity of training leads to success on the battlefield. Intentional training leads to a virtuous life. Learn More: Vanguard XXI - https://www.vanguardxxi.com Practice Makes Permanent - Book Practicing Excellence -Book --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mensalliancetribe/support

In this week's episode, titled "Tao Te Ching," we delve into Lao Tzu's ancient text, a foundational work of Taoism that has guided thinkers, leaders, and seekers for centuries. This episode is not merely a review of a philosophical text; it's an exploration of timeless wisdom that encourages harmony, simplicity, and the profound practice of inner work. "Tao Te Ching" introduces us to principles that advocate for a life free from excessive desire, echoing themes found in Stoicism and Buddhism. We will explore how Lao Tzu's teachings on humility and the power of yielding can lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. His advice on embracing 'being free from desire' helps illuminate paths to personal peace and contentment. Furthermore, this discussion will cover the historical context of Lao Tzu's era, shedding light on how and why these teachings emerged as essential guidance during times of moral and social complexity. We'll discuss how the ideas of 'Virtuous Life' and living in accordance with nature are more relevant today than ever, offering solace and strategies in our fast-paced, often chaotic modern world. This episode will also delve into the profound impacts of mindfulness and self-understanding, which Lao Tzu posits as tools for cultivating a life of virtue and integrity. By engaging with these concepts, we can foster a life that not only respects external achievements but also values the quiet strength of personal growth and inner resilience. Let's embark on this enlightening journey together, exploring how Lao Tzu's call to live a virtuous, mindful life can inspire us to become better individuals in a complex world. I trust that this episode, along with the book, will prove beneficial to you, your loved ones, and the broader world. As always, I will be sharing several thought-provoking concepts for you to ponder and apply in real-life scenarios in the upcoming days. For those feeling adventurous, there will also be a challenge awaiting your participation! All the love, all the power, all of the time! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link: https://linktr.ee/w.salski Link to the Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Laozi/dp/1535229330 LINKS to EPISODES: The Prince - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4fz2VIWOkviR3Wb6bwbfey?si=3b590d1db59e4d9d Siddhartha - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2iSejzdCv5IrSlqoCNJI7v?si=53c6195ff8de4de1 Meditations - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ZCarN0dQMCaU8fVM7POL3?si=3c105cfdd86e44e7

Series: N/AService: Sun AMType: SermonSpeaker: Dan Petty

Self-Control Is Important To Living A Virtuous Life2 Peter 1:5-7 “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”Today's verse came from the Ascension press app. They have a daily devotional, which I never listen to. However, today, the subject is about living with virtue. We don't really hear much about this in this day and age, so it got my attention. The person who did the devotional was Hudson Byblow. He is a Catholic Speaker from Canada. He talked about how our faith proposes that we strive to live a life of virtue.Hudson drew our attention to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 1803, which says, ”Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.I like how this paragraph tells us to focus our thoughts on the things that are honorable, just, pure, lovely, or gracious—anything of excellence or worthy of praise. I also like that the description defines virtue in a way that we can all understand. It says a virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. Do we have a firm disposition to do good? Do we focus our thoughts on those things that are good, or do we focus our thoughts on the fears and worries of the world? Do we focus our thoughts on those we don't like and what they are doing wrong instead of focusing on ourselves and everything we could be doing right?The CCC says that when we have virtue, it allows us not only to perform good acts but to give the best of ourselves.The other part about what it says in the CCC is that The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory or spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. This part of what the CCC says ties back into the rest of the verse above.Remember the verse above says, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.” It starts with how we should supplement our faith with virtue, which we just defined. Then is says virtue with knowledge. How can we focus our thoughts on what is good if we don't know what is good? We need to spend time in God's Word and learn what is good and what is honorable because the world is telling us to live the opposite of how the Lord wants us to live. We need to seek knowledge if we want to live a virtuous life.Next, it goes on to say, “Knowledge with self-control.” Self-control is a big one. I don't think we realize how big of an impact self-control has on our lives and our ability to live virtuously. l struggle with self-control. This is interesting to me because a few years ago, I did much better. I think it is always a struggle for us, but at some points in our lives, we do better than at other points in our lives. When I was doing great with self-control, I was listening to a lot of personal development podcasts I was listening to a lot of religious podcasts, and Bible studies. This truly helped me have more self-control. I was listening to people telling me every day that I didn't need to give into my every whim. They were telling me I could do hard things. They were filling my mind with the truth and the light of God.Lately, I have been filling my time with other things, and I have not been listening to those same podcasts. I have not been in scripture as much as I was, and so it is no wonder I am struggling with self-control. I can really see what this verse is saying about how we need to supplement our knowledge with self-control and our self-control with endurance. I believe the enemy is tricking us all into believing that self-control is not important.I know he whispers in my ear that God doesn't mind if I eat those cookies or if I drink that soda. He tells me God wants me to be happy. This is true; God does want us to be happy. This is why the enemy's lies work so well. He tells us things that are half-truths or things that are true but not relevant to the situation. For instance, yes, God wants us to be happy. However, He doesn't just want us to be happy. He is more concerned with the state of our soul than He is with our happiness. Also, God knows that eating a whole package of cookies and drinking soda all day won't make us happy. We are searching for something to make us happy instead of turning to the Lord to make us happy.God cares about our self-control because it is needed to help us become virtuous people. It said above in the section of the CCC, “he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.” We can't choose good in concrete actions if we have no self-control. Choosing the good isn't always easy. Often it is hard to do the right thing. If we don't have self-control, we will not be able to do the hard thing. I heard a saying, I am not sure who said it but the saying is about giving money to the church. They say, “If you don't give 10% of a dollar when you have no money, you won't give 10% of a million dollars when you do have money. I think the same is true with self-control. If we don't practice self-control in the small things, like eating too many cookies, then we will struggle to have self-control in the big things like keeping our word to others or keeping the commandments. If we go throughout our life giving in to every whim and every desire it will be very hard to live a virtuous life.This is why this verse is so important. It reminds us that we need more. It reminds us to supplement our faith with things that will help us grow closer to the Lord and also closer to heaven. Let me leave you with the verse. How about we all take some time today and ponder this verse? We can think about the life we are living and see if there is anything we can take away from this verse to help us live our lives better! “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing. We ask that you help us exhibit self-control. Strengthen us and give us the knowledge that through you, we can do all things. We ask you to show us what we need to learn from this verse and help us apply it in our lives. We ask you to help us live a more virtuous life. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. We are starting a new topic in Mentoring this month. We will be exploring what it means to surrender to the Lord truly. Surrender your problems, surrender your love, surrender all you have to the Lord. We tend to ask the Lord to fix our problems, then take them back from Him and try to fix them ourselves. This month, we will be looking at how to hand them over to Him and then not take them back again. If this is something you struggle with, I hope you will join us this month for mentoring. It is just $30 monthly with no commitment, so cancel anytime. Give it a try, what have you got to lose? I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “You are my sheep. I have clothed you with the finest of wool. Fear not, for I always go before you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Jeffrey Rosen talks about his new book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, followed by a panel discussion on the influence of classical writers and thinkers on the founding generation. Panelists include University of Chicago Professor Eric Slauter, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will; and Melody Barnes, executive director of UVA's Karsh Institute of Democracy. This program was recorded live on February 9, 2024.   Resources:  Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (2024)  Cicero, The Tusculan Disputations   Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics   Melody Barnes, et al, ed., Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy (2020)  Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia    Eric Slauter, The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution (2009)  Thomas Jefferson's Recommended Reading   George Will, Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does (1984)  George Will, The Conservative Sensibility (2019)  Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue today's conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.  Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.   You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library. 

We'd say Marcus Aurelius was a rock star philosopher, but that would fly in the face of what being a Stoic is all about. Imagine being the most powerful person in the world yet taking time every night to jot notes to yourself about how to be a better person. That's the kind of guy Aurelius was, and it's also why his wisdom on navigating life's complexities is as relevant to this day as they were in his time — and clearly something to, well, meditate on. Topics discussed: What Aurelius' famed “Meditations” really were — and why his deeply personal observations weren't meant to be shared Why the mind is the battlefield that this Roman Emperor was most focused upon, even as he led the Romans through 12 years of war (the Roman–Parthian War of 161–66 and the Marcomannic Wars) The dance between the ebb and flow of nature and that of the will of human beings… and how that impacts the future How Aurelius embraced the Stoic doctrine and how he deviated from it (Hint: Cue the song “Feelings” by Morris Albert) The best way to handle anger (along with all of your impulses and emotions) Plus a few biggies: how to find true happiness, what's the purpose of life, and what the heck he meant by “the universe is transformation: life is opinion”

Spirit Ricks, author of "A Woman's Guide to a Virtuous Man and a Man's Guide to Virtue," talks about what he has learned, how he has grown, and how others can become the individuals they are meant to be.

Hey Gorgeous,   A year ago I was a bit shocked when I felt God leading me to start headcovering as a Christian woman. This was not something I had really ever been exposed to.   Determine to be obedient to whatever He asks and calls me to, I jumped right in and began the mostly full-time practice of biblical headcovering.   In this episode, I'm sharing more about my story on how this came about, and I'm also answering some questions that I get asked occasionally.   Please join me for a sneak peek into the joy of head covering in our modern society.   Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey   JOIN THE DECLUTTERING CHALLENGE - STARTS JANUARY 22: closetcleanoutchallenge.com   LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   FREE BIBLICAL AFFIRMATIONS: mindsetmirroraffirmations.com   Want to work with me?    Join the only image and style membership for Christian women: radiantbydesigncollective.com Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Discover the Youniform Framework to create your dream wardrobe: radiantuniformsystem.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   44 | From Hurt to Healing: How Trauma Shapes Self-Image and Personal Style Transformation   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life   09 | Fasting, Obedience, and Headcovering: Sharing Testimony of God's Goodness during a 21 Day Fast

00:00 Introduction and Background03:53 Challenging False Dichotomies08:06 The Journey of Deconstructing Sectarianism10:27 Moving from Rigid Beliefs to Charitable Living16:12 Understanding Virtue Ethics21:57 The Change in Definition of Freedom28:05 The Role of Authority in Virtue Ethics32:21 Virtue Ethics as a Way Forward for the Church34:17 Addressing Deconstruction and Hypocrisy37:41 Virtue Ethics and Political Engagement43:07 Navigating the Political Landscape with Virtue Ethics48:17 Closing and Prayer Welcome to another episode of Off the Wire. And I am really excited to be able to have Lee C. Camp here in the interview space, at least through Zoom. And I was telling Lee earlier that I am thankful to be able to have him on the podcast because my wife and I have been avid listeners of his podcast, which is called No Small Endeavor. And we were listening to that. We've been listening to that the past couple of years, but he has done a great job of helping us think through how to get rid of, or at least challenge false dichotomies. Because a lot of times, as we've talked about on Off the Wire, that there are a lot of times that we think this, not that. And a lot of times the answer is in the gray space or in the this and that. So the both and is what is helpful. And so I'm really grateful to have you on the podcast, Lee. Thank you for your time. And And you are hailing from the great city of Nashville, Tennessee, where you're a professor, right? That's correct. Yeah. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got into that space and what you teach and everything like that? Sure. Yeah. Thank you, Matt. Pleasure to be with you and appreciate the invitation to be on your show. Yeah. So I live in Nashville. I've been in Nashville starting my 25th year of college teaching at Lipscomb University in Nashville. I teach theology and ethics. And, um, So, you know, I got into that line of work by some, not terribly circuitous, but a little bit circuitous route. I, when I was in, started college, I intended to be something in science or technology, engineer, physicist, something like that, and started in engineering and then moved to computer science and actually did my undergrad in computer science. But somewhere along the way, I had kind of a nagging sense of calling of some sort towards either pastoral work or teaching. And I finally kind of yielded to that sometime between my junior and senior year in college. And did you go to Lipscomb for college? I did. I did undergrad there. Yep. And, um, but while I was doing my computer science degree, I also did biblical studies and Greek along with a math minor. So, um, so those different minors gave me access to a lot of different stuff. Off the Wire (02:28.782)So then I went on to seminary. In seminary, I kind of fell in love with the very notion of the history of ideas and intellectual history, and then the way theology fits into that. And that kind of piqued my interest in doing PhD work. So after a brief stint, my wife and I went to Nairobi for six months between seminary, and then I got into Notre Dame to do my graduate work and did my PhD there, was there for five years, and then came to Nashville and started teaching. So that's kind of a... That's a quick snapshot of how I got into the world I'm in. Well, that's great because, I mean, obviously that's going to inform what you're doing right now. I mean, how do you move from an engineering type mind of being very definitive in things? And obviously theology and systematic theology works at trying to say, you know, Jesus is this, he's not that. So how do you move into the space where it could be for a lot of people? very scary or very shaking to their foundations to say, okay, I'm going to move from these very hard lines of what is true and place those in areas of conviction to where someone can still be a Christian and disagree with me and still be a brother or sister in Christ. Can you walk us through that journey of where you're seeking now to help people demolish strongholds, namely, false dichotomies? Yeah, that's a big and can be a complicated question, but it's a super important one. So just, I guess some of the things that are important in my own history or thinking about that is that I certainly was raised in a highly sectarian church context in which, you know, not only were. was it that we were the only ones going to heaven, you know, but that we weren't so sure about the people sitting on the P with us either. And so, so that that was kind of the, the world I was raised in, as far as thinking about who's in and who's out. And then so it was, it was a long process of realizing that the world is big, that the Christian world is big, and that the world is big. And that there are a lot of ways that people have tried to Off the Wire (04:46.542)be very serious about their Christian faith in ways that I originally had no idea about. And then with regard to the question like about an engineering mind, I think that there were certainly, I was laughing about this at church Sunday morning with kind of the social visiting time. And I don't remember how it came up, but, oh, was someone talking to me about, someone mentioned a famous Saturday Night Live sketch from when I was a kid. And they said, Lee, you probably didn't get to watch Saturday Night Live, did you? And I said, well, actually, we actually weren't permitted to watch the Love Boat, but we could watch Saturday Night Live. And I said, but I never watched Saturday Night Live because I didn't get it. And it just didn't, I didn't understand it. And then I laughed and I said, I think it's because... I was raised in such a literalist context and where we looked at everything so literally that that really does, you can't be very funny and you can't understand comedy and humor when you're that literalist. gotta explain the joke, you've lost the joke. That's right, right. And so think like satire and so like that. I just didn't get it. I didn't find it interesting. And so learning to have different ways of reading texts, of thinking about the world and all that kind of stuff, not only does it give you a better sense of humor, but it gives you a better sense of... the beauty and the wonder and the mystery of life and the mystery of the universe and so forth. And so that then brings me full circle to the last thing I'll comment on at the moment about that is that I recently got to spend a day with a well -known writer, Parker Palmer, and he talks a lot about paradox. And he quotes the famous physicist, Niels Bohr, who Bohr once said, the opposite of a true fact, is a falsehood. But the opposite of a profound truth may be another profound truth. And I just find that super helpful. Clearly there are things that are true and things that are false. I was born in 1967, that's true. And any other assertion to the contrary is false. But there are certain profound truth claims. Off the Wire (07:10.638)that there may be, and it's important that Bohr was careful there. He didn't say the opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth, but that it may be another profound truth. And so this capacity to hold onto paradoxical claims, I think is terribly important and enriches our lives in numerous ways. Was there a certain author or certain school of thought that started to get you to go down a path of saying, maybe I don't need to always question the person down the pews salvation. Like, were there certain, for my experience, it was reading the early church fathers who were going back and forth about the person of Jesus, right? And they're arguing about these very fundamental doctrines. And then I'm like, well, I guess that particular extension of that isn't as important as maybe the fundamental Orthodox beliefs. So that's my genesis of coming to a place of, okay, I can listen to people who I strongly disagree with and I can learn something from them. Was there anybody, any author that you could direct somebody to that was helpful for you? For me, it began to be challenged. My sectarianism began to be challenged by a mentor of mine as an undergraduate. And he was actually the vice president of our college. And for whatever gracious, generous reason, he began to connect with me and a good friend of mine and would visit with us once a week. And he would begin to ask us questions that we couldn't answer. And so it was just kind of basically asking us questions that stood in tension with what we had taken for granted and showing us this doesn't hold up necessarily as well as you might think it does. And he did it in a non -threatening sort of way. But then he upped that. by one evening, I'll remember this night the rest of my life, he invited me to this ecumenical gathering in which we sat in a circle, there were probably 15, 20 people in this circle. And people were asked to talk about their life of late and the way their faith had been informed, challenged, growing in the last season of their life. Off the Wire (09:28.238)And so that was really the first time I had ever sat and listened to devoted Christians who didn't share all of my convictions. And I remember sitting with this mentor at a break and me expressing, I've never gotten to hear people that are different than me talk about their faith this way. And clearly there's something to this faith that they have. And so that began a long process of kind of deconstructing my sectarianism and helping me have a much bigger... more compelling vision of a Christian faith and practice. Yeah, no, that's great. Because even within my, in my own journey, and I don't know if you can, would resonate with this or not, but I found that I grew up in a more mainline Protestant denomination. And then I was converted in college and I became very adamant with beliefs and like, okay, I'm going to walk through this passage. I'm going to get the meaning of the text, which is there is one meaning. and all those who don't agree with that. And so I became very rigid in my approach to not just theology, but others in life in general. And as I started looking at my own life, I said, the path that I'm on, I'm going to be a really bitter person in 30 years. If everybody is suspect and I'm not really being able to hear somebody say, oh, you talk about Jesus. and I'm going to take you at your word as opposed to looking at them as though they're not really talking about the same Jesus. So that was part of my journey as well, is being challenged with what kind of person are you being charitable? Are you being loving? Are you being kind? Are you exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit? And quite frankly, I had good doctrine, but I didn't have good living. And would you find that like within your sectarian upbringing that that was a large... or was that visible in how you exhibited your life and the people that you observed in church? Well, I think that there were certainly a lot of people in my childhood church community who did subscribe to a lot of sectarian presumptions, but they also had beautiful lives. Off the Wire (11:50.324)along with it. But at the same time, I'll also say that even though sectarian presumptions, I think it is important to challenge some because, and I'm not a child psychologist and don't know a whole lot about child development, but one thing I do understand that I think is commonly presumed about growth in childhood, is that when we're younger, we have a much more black and white vision of the world. And a lot of times we might not be able to see that there's a lot more nuance around us as children because all we have is the scales, lenses that see things in very black and white terms. And so I've learned to try not to presume that my interpretation of things that I had as a kid of my church context were actually in fact true. It was my childhood experience of that. And so I can look back on some of those settings and realize that even, you know, there was this one preacher that I had during my adolescent years that was very sectarian and was highly legalistic and was really good about the shaming and the blaming and all that kind of stuff. But there were other preachers that I had even when I was younger and then preachers that came later that they weren't that way, you know, and they had a much more charitable. gracious vision of the world and what their faith meant. And then there were people sitting in the pew that I'm sure a lot of times they were just trying to figure out what in the world do I do with this stuff that I'm hearing that I may or may not agree with, you know, and doing their best to try to live a life that they thought honored love of God and love of neighbor. But yeah, I mean, I can look back at some of those beautiful people that were in the pews around me and think those were wonderful human beings that I was really grateful to get to be in community with. Even though sometimes I was having to struggle with some of the presumptions of teaching and so forth. I'll say too that, you know, there did come a time where I would feel a sort of sadness about the fact that, for example, after my first book came out when I was young, I was in my thirties, I guess, and my first book came out, you know, it was, it was another denomination that invited me to come back to my hometown and lecture on the book. Off the Wire (14:13.102)and very few people from my home church showed up to be with me. And so there's sadness about that kind of reality is that because even the bare fact that I was lecturing at a competing denomination that a lot of folks wouldn't see as Christian meant that they would just wouldn't come hear me. And so there's genuine sadness about those facts and it definitely gets in you and affects you as you have to process what you do with all that kind of stuff. Even as you're talking, I was thinking about in my own experience that I wonder how many times the life that I lived has actually changed multiple times. Meaning, as I look back on it 20 years down the road, I remember when I first started walking with Jesus that I used to say, well, I don't remember hearing the gospel. I never heard the gospel at the church I grew up in. And the fact of the matter is, more than likely I did. But I wasn't listening. I didn't have the ears. Right. Spirit, right? And along with those same people, there were a lot of amazing people who were very charitable, who exhibited the fruit of the Spirit. But because I was so black and white in my thinking, I was unable to see that. I was looking at everybody through a certain lens that compromised literal interpretation of Scripture, and they didn't really believe the Bible was inerrant or any number of things. And because of that, everybody was written off. And I could really see the beauty. that was there until 20 years later. Right. Yeah. So you, you, and I mentioned this at the beginning when we first started that you've given a lot of your energies and thinking to virtue, what is called virtue ethics. For folks that aren't familiar with that term, can you explain exactly what virtue ethics is and why that could be a way forward in not only how we think in nuance, but then also how we just, quite frankly, live our lives. Can you talk some people through them? Yeah. Well, certainly when I do this with classes, I have to take two or three or four full lectures to try to begin to answer that question or those series of questions. But prior to the... So taking... I'll summarize briefly, for example, the philosopher Alistair McIntyre, who's one of the most prominent virtue ethicists, a Scottish American. Off the Wire (16:41.962)philosophers who's still living. I think he's in his nineties now. But, you know, McIntyre would talk about how prior to the enlightenment, moral theory had three basic elements. It was humankind as it is or untutored human nature, and then humankind as it could be if it realizes its essence or if it realizes its telos, what it means to be a human. And then there are virtues or moral practices or habits, skills, dispositions. that constitute a way of life that can help us realize that excellence. And so with Aristotle, the classic example was, one of the classic examples Aristotle used was think about a musician. You've got a master musician who epitomizes the essence of what it means to be an outstanding musician, an excellent musician. And then you have an untutored child who wants to be that master musician. Well, there are certain dispositions, skills, habits, practices. that have to be put in place to move from one to the other. And so what McIntyre says is that's the way until the Enlightenment that we thought about morality, that morality was not some arbitrary capricious rules to squelch joy or to squelch pleasure. It was instead a way actually to be free. If you want to be free as a musician, you have to undergo all of this discipline, all of this work, all of these practices. And then you can have this incredible liberty. to be free as a musician that's wonderful and masterful and delightful. And so similarly with the virtue traditions, we're asking what are those skills, habits and dispositions that are indispensable to being a human being? And apart from those, we will experience bondage or inability to be what we were created to be or what we were designed to be. And so for example, going back to Aristotle, Aristotle would talk about there are four cardinal virtues and by cardinal that word is taken from the Latin cardo and cardo means hinge. And so these are four key practices that are the hinge on which your life will turn. And this is common sensical, right? So for Aristotle, it's the four cardinal virtues are courage, prudence, temperance, and justice. So courage, for example, if we don't have any courage and we're Off the Wire (19:06.932)constantly living under the lash of cowardice. Clearly that's not going to be much of a life that's a life worth living. You know, it's just, it's just not, it's going to be a pretty sad life to have to live. Similarly with temperance, if we have no temperance with regard to pleasure, then we fall into another sort of bondage, right? Prudence or wisdom is the capacity to choose the best way to do the right thing. And you know, you can be super, um, moral, if you will. But if you have no prudence about choosing the best way or the better way to practice these things, you're just going to be very difficult human being and probably cause a lot of harm. And justice for Aristotle, justice has to be one of the four cardinal virtues because we are social creatures. And, you know, no man is an island, the poets would say later. And because we live in community, then we have to be attending to justice. We have to be attending to relationships. So somebody like Thomas Aquinas, the great Christian thinker in the 13th century, he picks that stuff up from Aristotle. He says, Aristotle is right about this. And he said, however, there are three so -called theological virtues or three infused virtues which we receive as a gift that are faith, hope, and love. And so apart from things like the four cardinal virtues plus the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love, then we can't be the human beings that we were created to be. And so that's the quick framework. The last quick note I'll give about that is that in following the Enlightenment, we completely reconstitute what freedom means. And this is so crucial, right? Because prior to the Enlightenment, in various virtue traditions, and so this could be going back to the Greeks, it could be the biblical tradition, it could be various medieval virtue traditions. For all of them, freedom is found on the other side of discipline, going back to the musician, right? You have a freedom that is unbelievable as a musician. I know a lot of world -class musicians here in Nashville and see them do what they do. It's because they've given their lives to this and then they have a freedom to do things that mere mortals cannot do. It's just amazing to see what they can do and to hear and to watch them do what they do. So freedom is over here on the other side of discipline. Off the Wire (21:29.39)So you're to have the unschooled person say, leave me alone. I want to be free. I want to be free to do what I want to do. And the ancients would have looked at that and said, that is not freedom. That is bondage. So it's crucial for us to see that after the Enlightenment, we have taken what we call freedom. The ancients would have said is not freedom. It's the opposite. It's slavery and it's bondage. And so this is a huge reality that I think, generally speaking, a lot of modern people are oblivious to. And so once we began to reframe this, it allows this profound new vision for thinking about our lives, this profound new vision for thinking about why we care about things like morality, why we care about habits, why we care about giving attention to our lives, because we can then begin to say, okay, there is a possibility for me living a life that is beautiful and true and good. but it means I got to give attention to it and it means I've got to do what I can. So, and then the last, I said that was the last thing, but let me do one more thing real quick. For Aquinas, as I noted, you know, you've got the things like the cardinal virtues and the cardinal virtues typically are seen both in the Greeks and like Aristotle and in the Christian tradition as virtues that we really can work on ourselves. Whereas the theological versions are seen as a gift to us from God that we receive that we cannot manufacture ourselves. So this is kind of one way of thinking about faith and works. You know, there's their courage. Aristotle says one becomes courageous by doing courageous deeds. The only way you're going to become courageous is by practicing. And if you don't ever practice being courageous, you're going to be a coward. No, no getting around it. That's just the way life is. So there's no escaping the discomfort. There's no escaping the fear. There's no escaping the anxiety that you have to go through to learn to practice courage, faith, hope and love. Well, these are gifts. We can still cultivate ourselves to be open to receive those gifts, but they are gifts. But again, this kind of gives us a frame to think about what can I be giving attention to? What ought I'd be giving attention to? So that I can really take seriously my own life and the life of those people around me, the life of my community to foster. Off the Wire (23:52.334)some sort of vision of what it means to live a good life. I threw a lot at you there, Matt. No, it's wonderful. There's a couple things that stirred my thinking. First of all, do you think the change of definition of freedom at the Enlightenment and post -Enlightenment, is it lumped in with a throwing off of authority? Do people say, no, true freedom is you not telling me what to do, church, and authority figures. Is that? What happens is very much related to authority for sure. Yeah. So following the enlightenment autonomy, the word autonomy becomes actually the marker for what it means to be a moral person. And so so there's this famous line from Immanuel Kant, one of the great modern enlightenment thinkers who says he quotes the slogan, have the courage to use your own reason. And then he said, then his commentary on that is this is the motto of the enlightenment, right? Have the courage to use your own reason. And so autonomy, self -rule is seen as the marker of what it means to be a human being after the enlightenment. And then being under the authority of another is derogatively, pejoratively called heteronomy. But if you go back to the virtue traditions, this reconfigures the notion of authority. So that, again, go back to the example of the musician. Now, what I need to do if I want to become a master at a given craft, such as a musician, I want to find some sort of... authority who can actually help me become that. And I can sit over here and say, I'm just going to do this on my own. And what I do is I become a hack at it. And I might get pretty good at it, but not in the same ways I can get good at it. If I get the privilege of having rightful, I don't want to say rightful authority. I want to say healthy authority. I want to say fruitful authority. Off the Wire (26:11.95)that can show me how to do this, right? It's not imposing. It's not an imposing authority, but it is a exemplary authority. It is an inviting authority. It is an authority that says, this is the way you do this. This is the way you hold the boat. This is the way you play a scale. This is the way you practice. This is the way you memorize. This is the way blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then I can become something I couldn't become otherwise. And so you're pointing to authority is crucial there. And so again, the point is not any authority is good. That's obviously patently false. And I would be super cautious of anybody that is going to have this un -nuanced celebration of authority. I'd kind of run from them, frankly. Yeah. Yeah. But the notion of looking askance at every authority is just as problematic. It doesn't help us either. So this virtue tradition shows us a different way to think about authority and frame it up in a way that can be immensely fruitful and helpful for our lives. Yeah, because there is a bit of truth to having self -law in the sense of, by extension, the four virtues are you having governance over yourself, right? Yes, right. don't do this in excess and know when to do this and not that. So it takes it in by extension, but makes it a law into itself. Always you need to be the authority, but then you have to ask, what is the objective lens, the objective truth in which we need to be moving towards to be able to say, okay, this is what is just and this is what is unjust. Right. Yeah. And with the Enlightenment, the autonomy typically focused not so much upon character as much as it focused more upon rationality. And so, you know, the, in the enlightenment, the focus moves much more towards intellect and rationality as opposed to embodied habits and embodied practices. And so the virtue traditions are much, they're going to care about rationality, but they're also caring about rationality in relation to bodies and embodied habits and practices. Off the Wire (28:30.414)But in the Enlightenment, we're just caring mostly about minds. And so autonomy is construed in terms of you use your own reason, you use your own mind. Whereas the ancients would have said, yes, of course, use your own mind, but you have to learn how to use your mind in conversation with under helpful, useful authority while you're also working on the ways in which you have a sort of rightful governance of your body and of your appetites. Last thing, another thing that comes up with that, you pointing to that, it's super helpful, is another thing I like about the virtue traditions is that they'll talk about the use of the word continence. And of course, when we hear the word continence, we think about the capacity to control your bladder, right? But it's an interesting word to think about with regard to the moral life, because there's a sort of, it's interesting that, Protestants and there's a Catholic writer, I'll think of his name here in a minute, who's written on the Cardinal Virtues and he's got this great book on leisure. But he talks about how in, and I can't remember if he calls that Protestants or not, but I'll call us out because I think it's important for us to be thinking about. A lot of times we will think that the harder something is for us to do, the more virtuous it is. And we'll look at Jesus and say, well, And Jesus is calling us to this high standard, for example, of love of enemies and how hard that is to love our enemies. But what this philosopher points out is that that completely misconstrues what the virtue traditions are trying to get at. Because, you know, his point there is that who's more virtuous and who's more Christ -like, the person for whom we're greeting our teeth, thinking I have to love you, you SOB, and so I'm going to love you. or the person who with some sort of grace can acknowledge the pain and can acknowledge the hurt and can acknowledge the sadness, but they still have a gracefulness about loving that other person. And so the notion of continence is I can restrain, I can hold it. But beyond that is the goal. And that is I'm not just holding it, continence. I actually have a freedom to be this kind of person. Off the Wire (30:52.494)in a maturity that is beautiful and graceful. And I just love that vision, you know, and we're all always in progress towards that sort of vision of life, right? But to have that sort of vision is very compelling to me. Yeah, I mean, Jesus seems to put an emphasis on the actual act of obedience and it's not devoid of a heart, right? That's part of the problem is you don't just obey because you're supposed to, but obedience is an actual outworking of what's already taking place in your heart. Right. Yeah. So the son who says, I'm not going to do it, but then he goes and does it is actually in a better pathway than the one who says, I'll do it, but never does it. Yeah. I can agree with you cognitively. And I think what you were saying reminds me of Jamie Smith's, uh, who, where he says that we oftentimes as Protestants are just, uh, heads on a stick, right? Just these cognitive being like, give me the truth, but the truth is not devoid of action. Like it's not really. and it's not real obedience in what God's called us to do. So within that same vein of self -rule, and you look at our cultural landscape right now where everyone has a law unto themselves and I'm doing right by me, I'm living my truth and those kinds of things, how could virtue ethics be a way forward for the church to be able to speak into the life of our culture right now? Do you see there being some kind of bridge of what? virtue ethics can afford us if we were to come back to reclaiming the action that is needed of courage, temperance, and so forth? I think it may be really the only way forward. And I think that the more I have studied it and the more I see it and envision it, the more I think that some sort of framework like this is the only way to be true to what the biblical vision of life is, of what the biblical vision of what it means to be human is. And then I think that it gives us a lot of nuance to speak both to excesses on the American political right and excesses on the American political left. And so it's just, it's so nuanced and it's so holistic that I don't see how we can make a significant contribution. Off the Wire (33:18.734)or do very compelling culture making, to use Andy Crouch's phrase, apart from some sort of vision of the moral life like this. Yeah, you know, I've often wondered with a lot of conversation about deconstruction of people's faith in the current cultural milieu that we're in right now, it seems that as people are deconstructing their faith, it isn't necessarily about proves that they find more compelling as much as, oh, look at what happened again. Look at how that person is a hypocrite or that youth pastor would teach and then he abused that person. Can you draw some connections between that issue of deconstruction, people's problem with how people are living and how there might be a way forward in helping people? reconstruct their faith as it's connected to virtue ethics. I don't know that I've thought a whole lot about that quite in those terms. I definitely think that what a virtue type approach is going to do can help us undercut the various forms of legalisms against which that fuels a lot of deconstruction. But we can look at certain legalisms and they finally just break, you know, like that just doesn't fly because it leads to so many problems and so much grossness. And so people finally just say, I'm done with that. If that's what this Christian faith is all about. Yeah. Off the Wire (35:19.726)Whereas the virtue approach is going to ask a different set of questions and is not going to let us settle for any various forms of legalisms. For me, a legalism is a moral rule or some doctrinal rule that has lost sight of the end. So going back to the three -part thing, there's humankind as it is, humankind as it could be if we realize it's telos, and then... rules or virtues or habits of movement that constitute moving from one to the other. Well, a legalism is just, it's insisting upon the rule, but without any vision of what we're trying to be and the kind of people that we're trying to be. And so by removing the goal and the telos, but insisting upon the rule, that is this deeply perverted way of thinking about the moral life. And so what happens is that rather than there being freedom over here, We've lost the over here. And instead, what that rule does is it now restricts us and it's seen as a restriction of freedom and a restriction of our desires and a restriction of what it means to be human is the way that ends up feeding us a thing of what we have to do. And it's like that's a very non -compelling vision of what it means to be a human being or to be a Christian. And so, and again, I'll note very quickly that you can find legalists on the right, and legalists on the left. And you can find deep shaming stuff on the right and deep shaming stuff on the left. And so it's a virtue approach will keep pushing us and saying, isn't there a different vision than that sharp legalism or that sharp shame based approach to living on the right or the left? That's a different sort of way forward. Yeah, you said that virtue ethics. causes us to ask a different kind of question. And as we're looking at some of the political landscape, right, and we want to be Christ -like, what kind of questions ought we to be asking so that we aren't co -opted by the right or co -opted by the left, but we actually are following after Jesus? Are there certain kinds of questions we can be asking to right the ship, as it were, on both sides of that equation of, no, if you really love people, you'll do this. No, if you really love people, you'll do this. Off the Wire (37:41.834)the other side of the aisle. As we think about the political landscape right now, just so bifurcated between you're a Christian, you can only be a Christian if you vote this way. And you hear a lot of people saying, Christians can't vote for this person and that person. What is a way forward? And as virtue ethics asks us a different middle way type question. Yeah. Well, I've got a... a book that I published, unfortunately, that came out, it came out the week after the pandemic came down, which is really terrible timing on my part, you know, scheduling on my part, but I called Scandalous Witness and it's subtitled A Little Political Manifesto for Christians. And so what I'm doing in that book is I'm trying to make a case for how Christian faith could inform the way we engage the world and think about politics. And I really love the book and I wish a lot of people would read it. And because I think it can make it one more time. It's scandalous faith, scandalous witness witness. Yeah. And then the subtitle is a little political manifesto for Christians. And so I try I try to take up that question that you raised at great length and try to ask if not, as far as books go, it's a it's a pretty. not a terribly long book, but I think I've tried to set forward a number of propositions to think about how we could frame thinking about that. And one of the things that I keep coming back to in that is avoiding ideological commitments to American partisanship, which I want to rush to say that doesn't mean that we don't have opinions and strong ones about the things that are. happening in our cultural setting. But that. Off the Wire (39:46.126)It comes with an awareness that all political systems known to humankind fall short of the kingdom of God and that the kingdom of God is grounded in a sort of radical grace and a radical freedom that eschews violence, that eschews coercion, that eschews imposition of its will. And that the most radical, one of the most radical claims about God is a God of love. which allows us to reject God and even kill God when made incarnate in Christ. And that this is the politic actually to which Jesus invites us to participate. Is this what God's way of being in the world? We're invited to that kind of politic. It's not a spirituality devoid of, and it's not even a spirituality that has political implications. It is itself a politic, right? So when we ask what does the word politic mean, traditionally it meant, And going back to the Greeks, it's grounded in the word etymologically, polis, which is a word for city state. And so politics is the art of arranging the affairs of a community. And so politics classically asks questions about power. It asks questions about money. It asks questions about offenses. It asks questions about marriage. It asks questions about reconciliation. And like, well, who talks about that? Well, duh, you know, Jesus talks about that stuff all the time. And so Jesus is calling us to an alternative politic that's deeply, that's radically grounded in the love of God and love of neighbor. And for us to say that Christianity is not political just means we don't have the slightest idea of what Christianity is. But we can't then run to say, well, then we have to identify, am I going to be X or Y? Because the facts are, is that... There are going to be things about the right that I find, well, let me rephrase this. There are going to be things about classical American conservatism that I'm going to find to be true and helpful. And there are things about classical liberal politics in America that I'm going to find to be true and helpful. Off the Wire (42:08.244)And if I can't look at the, I think it's imperative upon us to try to figure out what are those things that we find true and helpful and what are things about that that we find not true and not helpful and have what I would call an ad hoc approach. And so we're always looking for what's the issue right in front of us that the Christian faith has a lot to say about. and then us try to find a way in a compelling, winsome way to bring the Christian tradition and Christian faith to bear upon whatever that issue is in front of us. So rather than thinking ideologically or partisan, we say what's something that we can genuinely bring that could be helpful to our community? Bring that forward. would that look like? What would that look like as it relates to this very thorny issue in your view? Off the Wire (43:07.266)There's so many issues I'm trying to think of, which ones we want to stick our foot into. Yeah, either way, there's going to be a bear trap. I do think that's part of the fear, right? And the church is becoming very silent on things, or they're being too bombastic, and they don't sound a whole lot like Jesus to where he cuts both ways. And you're either going to be in this camp, and if you... critique that camp, then you aren't really one of us. And I just find like there's such a vacuum right now of a prophetic voice in our culture because the church sounds so much like the culture, either right or left, as opposed to cutting it in half and saying, oh, the Pharisees don't like him, and those who are loving their licentious life don't love him either. And so how can the church find a way forward and how... how could virtue ethics be that answer? I mean, I think, so let me just speak from my own context for a minute. If anyone's paying any attention to local state politics in the United States of America, everybody knows that Tennessee is crazy right now. And literally, people, one party walking out of the state house this week because of. one member being silenced, which appears to be related to a personal political agenda. But a lot of this stuff goes to the immense frustration that we're experiencing about a refusal of a state house to take seriously common sense gun reform. And because of the horrific shooting that happened, two miles from my house this spring, or six people were, seven people died, six were shot and the perpetrator was killed. And so what you have in this particular case is people who want to talk about Christianity and act as if they are purveyors of the traditional Off the Wire (45:27.614)conservative values and want to ally themselves with Christianity and a lot of them claim to be Christian. And yet they refuse to take seriously any sort of, you know, it's a particular interpretation, I won't put it that way. It's a particular interpretation of the second amendment that then triumphs every sort of thing that the Christian witness has a lot to say about. Christian witness has a lot to say about violence. Christian witness has a lot to say. about our notions of the right to protect ourselves or the right to use violence against other human beings. And so, you know, I think Christians are quite right to be standing up and saying, this is outlandish. And it appears to be a sort of bowing down to the power of the gun lobby, where if you're serious about Christian faith, you're going to have to quickly get uncomfortable. readings of, you Russell Moore, who's no liberal, right? Russell Moore's editor at Christianity Today. But ironically is considered a liberal by folks that are very far right. Correct. Right. But he was on NPR a couple of weeks ago talking about how he was hearing from preachers. And if I remember the story correctly, he said he'd heard it more than once. He was hearing from people who were saying that the preacher's saying that they're citing the Sermon on the Mount, turn the other cheek and love your enemies and stuff like that. And they're having people come up to them after the sermon and saying, where are you getting those liberal talking points? And they're saying Jesus. And then Russell said, what's interesting to know is that these preachers are reporting that the people... that are pushing on that don't then apologize and say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that that was Jesus. Instead, what they're going on to say is, well, that's weak and that's irrelevant to the world today. And it's like, oh, okay, well, here we see what's happening, right? Is that what purports to be Christian is not Christian. And it's not taking seriously Jesus. And so I think that... Off the Wire (47:50.094)Yeah, we have a lot of sorts of things before us that require us to be savvy and courageous and prudent and attend to justice. And we'll throw some temperance and it's going to have to have a huge dose of faith, hope and love to maintain bearing such a witness. And unfortunately, I'm going to have to go. Yep. Yep. Yep. And I wanted to ask you just very quickly, if anybody wanted to follow... your work and where you're going. Of course, you mentioned your book that I would love to give out to folks as they share this podcast with others. I've got several that I'm going to be buying and sending out to folks. But if they wanted to follow you, that your podcast is called No Small Endeavor. No Small Endeavor, yes. You can also find more about us on our website, nosmallendeavor .com. Sign up for our email list as well. And we're also now being distributed through PRX to public radio stations around the country. So if you're people in your area wanted to call your local radio station and ask them to pick up No Small Endeavor on public radio. PRX could help them with that. Lee, could you do us the favor of just closing us in a brief prayer before you hop off? Sure thing. Gracious God, we give thanks for the gifts of this day and your mercies and your call to be your people. Grant us such grace, O Lord. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Thank you, Matt.  Thank you for listening! If you want to find out more about Matt and how you can get coached toward your better self, visit www.matthewwireman.com.

Engineering Success interviews Virtue Igbokwuwe a Civil Engineer working at Taylor Woodrow. As a Master's graduate in Civil Engineering with a First Class Honours degree, Virtue is highly dedicated and enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the Engineering field with the ultimate aim to become a Chartered Civil Engineer. In addition to being a Civil Engineer at Taylor Woodrow, Virtue is a part-time YouTuber. Her channel, “The Virtuous Life”, with more than 5,000 subscribers and 400,000 views, has provided her with a unique platform to reach a wider audience and serve as a role model for those seeking representation in the field.  She is also an ICE STEM Ambassador and does various outreach work in hopes to inspire the younger generation. Her work has allowed her to participate in an Engineering game show presented by Richard Hammond.

Hey Gorgeous, Happy New Year! On this, my favorite holiday that represents a fresh start, I'm sharing my word of the year that God stirred in my heart. Last year was focused on restoration, and He showed up so big in my family, faith, and business. This year is all about expansion, and I can't wait to see what He's got planned that I can only imagine. In the past I tried to choose a word of the year, but without God's lead, I failed and it fell flat. If God places something on your heart for this year, open up and trust Him to lead all the areas of your life into something beautiful and new. Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey   LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   FREE BIBLICAL AFFIRMATIONS: mindsetmirroraffirmations.com   Want to work with me?    Join the only image and style membership for Christian women: radiantbydesigncollective.com Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Discover the Youniform Framework to create your dream wardrobe: radiantuniformsystem.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life   18 | Thoughtful Thursday: Jesus Wants You to Be Whole, Asking for Healing as a Christian Woman   16 | Thoughtful Thursday: Pray Without Ceasing, How God Answers even the Smallest Prayers

Peggy Stanton prepares us for the Sunday Gospel and also tells the classic story of the Christmas Truce in World War I. We discuss the meaning of the virtuous life with Pat Oedy-Murray and Matthew Bunson tells us about a possible change in rules for cremations, along with other Church news.

Peggy Stanton prepares us for the Sunday Gospel and also tells the classic story of the Christmas Truce in World War I. We discuss the meaning of the virtuous life with Pat Oedy-Murray and Matthew Bunson tells us about a possible change in rules for cremations, along with other Church news.

Hey Gorgeous, As the year comes to a close, I would like to focus on gratitude for what God has created here at Radiantly Dressed. I went into the year focused on creating one big thing, but God… Listen along as I recap my journey through 2023 as a small business owner, building, waiting, and listening for what God wanted to do through me and through your personal style journey.  Thank you for being here this past year, and I hope you enjoy your holidays as I begin maternity leave. New episodes will return January 1, so get ready for an amazing 2024 with color, style, and capsule wardrobes. Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey   LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   FREE BIBLICAL AFFIRMATIONS: mindsetmirroraffirmations.com   Want to work with me?    Join the only image and style membership for Christian women: radiantbydesigncollective.com Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Discover the Youniform Framework to create your dream wardrobe: radiantuniformsystem.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   33 | Personal Stylist 101: 5 Reasons I Love My Job Working with Christian Women   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life   18 | Thoughtful Thursday: Jesus Wants You to Be Whole, Asking for Healing as a Christian Woman

I appeared on The Virtuous Life this week on Annunciation Radio. Pat and I talked about my recent article in Crisis Magazine, “Broken Homes Need Church Fathers”. We discussed how single-parent homes become inter-generational, along with the effects of individualism and utilitarianism on families.

The theme for November 2023 is "Strength and Honor are Her Clothing". The editor of the month, Amy Schlosser, discusses this theme and how we can pursue "Living a Virtuous Life".Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/zoo/clarityLicense code: UL9CSCKZ4YPM52DF

Fr. Jude DeAngelo's homily from Mass for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Bring a friend and join us for Alpha! Learn more and sign up at assumptionsyr.org/alpha  Support Assumption by giving online: assumptionsyr.org/give Listen to Assumption Today, our daily podcast: anchor.fm/assumptiontoday or subscribe wherever you get podcasts. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/assumption/message

Hey Gorgeous, As we remember 9/11 today, an event that is always in the minds of our generation, we're delving deep into a topic that touches the depths of our hearts and minds – trauma. In this episode, we explore how trauma, whether from significant life-altering events or the smaller everyday challenges, deeply influences our self-image and personal style transformation. Join me as we navigate the intricate terrain of healing, emphasizing the importance of support networks, therapy, and self-reflection. Discover how these strategies can guide us toward a brighter, more resilient future. We'll also unveil the profound connection between our inner struggles and the clothing choices we make. Personal style, often seen as a reflection of who we are, can be a potent tool for self-image transformation.  Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey   GET YOUR STYLE ROADMAP: Wardrobe Transformation Roadmap   LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   Want to work with me?    Join the only image and style membership for Christian women: radiantbydesigncollective.com Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   28 | Mental Health Awareness Month: Reflections on Identity, Self-Image, and Comparison in the Digital Age   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life   05 | Getting Dressed in the Valley: 4 tips for Looking your Best when Dealing with Depression, Illness, Trials, and Difficult Times

My biggest motivation has always been love.-Gilda Radner Penguin Rep Theatre, under the leadership of founding artistic director Joe Brancato and executive director Andrew M. Horn, presents the world premiere of Gene & Gilda by Cary Gitter, directed by Mr. Brancato, from August 4 through August 27 in Stony Point, New York. Beloved entertainers Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner come to vivid life in a hilarious and heartfelt new play from Penguin playwright-in-residence Gitter, author of The Sabbath Girl and The Virtuous Life of Joseph Andrews, which were previously presented at Penguin. Described by Mr. Brancato as an “intimate portrait of two comic legends in love -- and the lives they led beyond the laughter,” the play follows the famous couple from their first meeting through their personal and professional ups and downs, all the way to their poignant farewell. The cast under Mr. Brancato's direction includes Jordan Kai Burnett as Gilda and Jonathan Randell Silver as Gene. The production is designed by Christopher Fleming (set), Gregory Gale (costumes), Jamie Roderick (lights), Joel Abbott (sound), and Buffy Cardoza (props). Michael Palmer is production stage manager. My special guest to kick off this week is Jordan Kai Burnett! Jordan Kai Burnett recently made her Las Vegas debut starring as the Emcee for Channing Tatum's Magic Mike Live which played at both the Hard Rock and legendary Sahara Hotel & Casino. She was featured in the same role for Finding Magic Mike on HBOMAX. She starred opposite Jonah Platt in the West Coast premiere of the musical Found with the IAMA Theater Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, directed by Tony Nominee Moritz Von Stuelpnagel. She originated the role as ‘Scissorhands' in the Los Angeles hit “Scissorhands: the musical," created by Bradley Bredeweg. 

We conclude our four part series on the Cardinal Virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the virtue of Prudence.

The Virtuous Life 7/23/23 Rev. James J. Austin

We continue our four part series on the Cardinal Virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the virtue of Justice.

We continue four part series on the Cardinal Virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the virtue of Fortitude.

We begin a four part series on the Cardinal Virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. In this episode, we introduce the Cardinal Virtues and do a deep dive into the virtue of Temperance.

Hey Gorgeous,   Have you ever wondered what I actually DO in this business? Curious about what it means to be a personal stylist, image consultant, or wardrobe analyst?     Today I'm peeling back the layers on how and why I got into this business, and the transformation of my own journey as an image consultant.    Inside this episode I'm sharing 5 things that I have come to absolutely love about doing this amazing work with Christian women. I hope you enjoy an inside peek into my business and what makes this amazing calling in my own life.   Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   Want to work with me?    Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   21 | It's Just a Number: 5 Mindset Shifts to Stop Obsessing over the Size of Your Clothes   12 | Does Sustainable Fashion Matter? 3 Truths from the Bible about being a Responsible Steward of Fashion and Style   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life

Hey Gorgeous,   Have you ever considered going under the knife for plastic surgery or having other cosmetic procedures? I know it's common to look in the mirror at our flaws and feel defeated and think about how an “easy fix” like plastic surgery would solve the problem.   In today's episode I'm talking about 3 reasons why you should just say no to plastic surgery. The truth is that our flaws are a gift and they tell a story.   Listen along as I share my own stories and perspective and a little bit of hard truth about why these quick fixes aren't doing you any good.    Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   Want to work with me?    Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   28 | Mental Health Awareness Month: Reflections on Identity, Self-Image, and Comparison in the Digital Age   20 | Set Apart or Blending In? How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life   05 | Getting Dressed in the Valley: 4 tips for Looking your Best when Dealing with Depression, Illness, Trials, and Difficult Times

Human Nature: And the Virtuous Life (instituteofcatholicculture.org)CAFETERIA CATHOLICS COME HOME (spreaker.com)

Human Nature: And the Virtuous Life (instituteofcatholicculture.org)CAFETERIA CATHOLICS COME HOME (spreaker.com)

Human Nature: And the Virtuous Life (instituteofcatholicculture.org)CAFETERIA CATHOLICS COME HOME (spreaker.com)

Hey Gorgeous,   Today I'm talking about a serious issue: Mental Health Awareness Month. I'm not in any way a professional in health or mental health, but I am a mom who struggles with significant anxiety.   While the depth and scale of mental illness is different for each woman, and deserves individual care, as women of God we are called to be set apart.   In this episode I'm exploring the areas of identity, image, and comparison to look at how they have contributed to my own negative mental states, and offer solutions and suggestions for how to control the things we can and lean on God for the rest.   Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional or health care provider. The information presented here is based on my own opinions and experience struggling with mental health and the things that have made things worse and made things better. Please consult your own health care provider to manage your mental health concerns.    Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   Want to work with me?    Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com   RELATED EPISODES:   05 | Getting Dressed in the Valley: 4 Tips for Looking Your Best when Dealing with Depression, Illness, Trials, and Difficult Times   18 | Jesus Wants You to Be Whole: Asking for Healing as a Christian Woman   20 | Set Apart or Blending In: How God Calls Women to Lead a Virtuous Life

Happy Mom's Day! If you're a mom, grandma, step-mama or a mother figure, thank you for all you do in your family, community, and world. We're celebrating you at EDEN this weekend. GET CONNECTED + PRAYER New to EDEN? We'd love to pray for you, too! Let us know at https://eden.church/connect LEARN ABOUT EDEN CHURCH EDEN is a startup church in Silicon Valley. Learn more at https://eden.church FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA FB: https://www.facebook.com/edenthechurch IG: https://www.instagram.com/edenthechurch/ GIVE TODAY https://eden.church/give

In this episode, Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb and Dr. Fredrick J. Long explore Galatians 4:18-19 and discover how to know when change is bad. The payoff for you? A VirtueHack! By the end of this video, you'll have a deeper understanding of how to stay virtuous during bad changes and thrive in life's transitions. Tune in. #VirtueHack #Galatians #ChangeManagement #PersonalGrowth #SelfImprovement #Faith #BibleStudy #Thrive #PositiveChange #Transformation VirtueHack, Galatians, Change Management, Personal Growth, Self Improvement, Faith, Bible Study, Thrive, Positive Change, Transformation, Change Cycle, Mistakes, Harmful Changes, Difficult Changes, Overcoming Change, Bad Changes, Virtuous Life, Virtue Ethics --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/glossahouse/message

Hey Gorgeous,   What does it mean to be set apart for God? This is a concept dating back to the Exodus and precludes the saving work of Jesus.   As believers we are called to be different than the world and culture around us. It's easy, especially in modern society, to find ourselves blending in more than sticking out.   In today's episode I'm covering the Biblical basis of being set apart and how it ultimately points to Christ, and challenging you with 4 questions to determine whether you are a bright light standing out, salt of the earth, or whether you diluting your testimony by looking like everyone else. Want to nail down ALL your personal style stuff and create outfits you love? JOIN THE RADIANT WOMAN INTENSIVE 3 MONTH STYLE PROGRAM: Create a Signature Style so you can look put together every day. iamaradiantwoman.com   Get Dressed. Be Radiant. Stacey LEARN: radiantlydressed.com   CONNECT: stacey@radiantlydressed.com   COMMUNITY: christianstylecommunity.com   FREE COLOR PALETTE: createacolorpalette.com   FREE MOOD BOARD: stylemoodboard.com   Want to work with me?    Discover your Color Season: diycoloranalysis.com Join the Radiant Woman Intensive for 3 months of intimate personal style coaching: iamaradiantwoman.com

What does it mean to be virtuous? Virtue is a word that is mentioned often when talking about faith and the lives of the saints. However, do we understand what it means? Today, Fr. Josh is joined by author Andrew Whitmore to talk about the virtuous life and also discuss Andrew's new book Saintly Habits: Aquinas' 7 Simple Strategies You Can Use to Grow in Virtue. Snippet From the Show When you aren't able to overcome a challenge, it takes great courage to endure it instead. Text “askfrjosh” to 33-777 to subscribe to Fr. Josh's shownotes or go to www.AscensionPress.com/askfatherjosh Submit your questions and feedback to Fr.Josh by filling out a form at www.ascensionpress.com/askfatherjosh

Let Msgr. Winslow and Fr. Kauth inspire you to develop new habits that will draw you closer to our Blessed Lord.For updates about new episodes, special guests, and exclusive deals for From the Rooftop listeners, sign up at http://RooftopPodcast.com. And for more great ways to deepen your faith, check out all the spiritual resources available at http://TANBooks.com.

Living a virtuous life would be almost universally agreed upon as a good thing. We also desire to live a good and moral life that everyone respects. A virtuous life is believed to help us attain some higher level of being or at least keep us from being punished by God. Based on that belief, many religions, even Christian leaders, have created a moral code on how to live.

Topic. Living the Virtuous life and overcoming the 7 Deadly sins with virtue

From Stoic philosophy - This is the very thing that makes up a happy and virtuous life. When we can reduce "the self" versus being a vehicle for the Divine to move through our "selves," we become a vehicle for love.

  In the conclusion to living virtually or virtuously…  Jared and Chris talk about setting healthy boundaries with social platforms and why limiting or restricting our children's time on social media is critical to their future.  And how can we merge our face-to-face connections with our screen time connections for the best possible outcome? Where must the foundation be laid?  Lastly, how does all this lead to living a life strong by design? Find out in today's Part 2 episode on SBD.    “Different people and different temperaments are going to need to be friends with more or less people… But it doesn't matter who you are, you need that interaction with other human beings. You were designed for that interaction and if you don't have it, it's going to cause us." – Jared Haley      Time Stamps   00:32 – Welcome to the 'Strong By Design' podcast  00:55 – The importance of setting healthy boundaries with the virtual world  08:42 – Jared and Chris on why should we keep children off social media  13:17 – Should kids have smartphones?  17:20 – The power of human connection: Virtually vs. physically  20:43 – Why is connecting with others important?  31:35 – The role of faith and decisiveness in living a virtuous life  34:44 - Jared and Chris give tips for crafting intentional phone, social media boundaries    Resources:  Protect Young Eyes   Listen to Chris McKenna on SBD    Connect w/ Chris & Jared:  Instagram – Chris  Instagram – Jared  Facebook – Chris  Facebook - Jared    Connect w/ CriticalBench:   Youtube  Facebook  Instagram  CriticalBench.com  StrongByDesignPodcast.com 

  Reality or fantasy? Non-fiction or fiction? Truth or deception? What head space are you living in these days?  Today's conversation on SBD is two regular guys, co-hosts Jared and Chris, talking candidly about what it means to live and behave with a high regard for other people, to live morally, ethically, and biblically. To live in the present and proximity of others in a world living separated on technology.  In the last decade, there has been a major shift of people living online and projecting what they want others to “think” is their life through social channels.  What are the long-term consequences of this, we do not yet know.  Ultimately it comes down to what matters most to us: Our relationships and connections to other human beings in a real, physical way -or- basing the quality of our lives on how many followers and likes we are getting.    “There is such thing as too much of a good thing and too much of a bad thing… and it's finding that healthy balance and healthy line of what are my priorities and how much time am I going to invest in that digital space.” – Jared Haley    Time Stamps   00:00 – The negatives of digital life  00:46 – Welcome to the 'Strong By Design' podcast  06:05 – Virtual vs. virtuous life: What is the difference?  13:09 – Are you losing touch with reality in the digital age?  21:58 – Hosts Jared Haley & Chris Wilson on why social media is all a façade  28:36 – The power of unpretentious living  34:01 – Jared and Chris on dealing with habitual sins in a digital age  40:18 – Jared and Chris share a powerful verse on how to live the Christian life    Connect w/ Chris & Jared:  Instagram – Chris  Instagram – Jared  Facebook – Chris  Facebook - Jared    Connect w/ CriticalBench:   Youtube  Facebook  Instagram  CriticalBench.com  StrongByDesignPodcast.com 

Sermon Series Our sermon series, The Letters of Peter, continues. Some of the themes and titles for this sermon series are based on the book Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: 2 Pet 1:3-15, John 15:5-8. Sermon Notes The Christian life is not meant to be a guessing game. We should be able to assess whether we are on the right path, living a life that is pleasing to God. Peter offers a list of moral qualities or virtues. If these are present in our lives and increasing then we can have confidence that God's power is at work in us and that our calling and election are confirmed. The Christian life does involve serious effort – but this is not opposed to grace. God's grace and power begins, sustains, and concludes the life of discipleship. But we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to cultivate virtue in our lives. The virtues are moral excellence, knowledge of God, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Peter's words, though challenging, are a gift of grace. They offer us a better vision of the good life, a way to feel encouraged that we are on the right path, and a gut check if we are not. Sermon Application Do you agree that God's free grace is not opposed to our serious effort? Why or why not? Which virtue is the most present in your life right now? For which virtue do you need to seek God's help and then apply some effort? Do you tend to be too hard on yourself or to let yourself off the hook? Can you think of other places in the New Testament where other moral qualities, fruits, or virtues are listed? How are these similar or different than what Peter writes? Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Randy Forrester (RForrester@StAndrews.Church).

Kenneth G. Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, delivered a plenary address as part of Acton University 2018. His topic for the evening was “C.S. Lewis and Freedom: Christianity's Most Famous Apologist Meets Adam Smith.” Subscribe to our podcasts About Kenneth G. Elzinga “To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.